Friday, January 30, 2009

Apollo Theater in the Library

For the last several years during Black History Month I have created a display of the Apollo Theater in our school library. Our library door has the address 253 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027. A vertical sign reads APOLLO. Inside the library we have a tree stump that is our Tree of Hope.

Also are pictures of famous African Americans who began their careers at the Apollo.

"Nestled between the Lafayette Theatre and the popular nightclub Connie's Inn, a tall [elm] tree was rumored to bring good luck to all who touched it.During the Harlem Renaissance, aspiring performers such as Ethel Waters, Fletcher Henderson, and Eubie Blake were rumored to have visited the Tree of Hope.When the tree was cut down in 1934 during the expansion of 7th Avenue, it was cut into logs and sold as souvenirs. One section was salvaged and found a home at the Apollo Theater, where today's amateur performers continue to rub the trunk in the tradition of their predecessors."Nestled between the Lafayette Theatre and the popular nightclub Connie's Inn, a tall [elm] tree was rumored to bring good luck to all who touched it.During the Harlem Renaissance, aspiring performers such as Ethel Waters, Fletcher Henderson, and Eubie Blake were rumored to have visited the Tree of Hope.When the tree was cut down in 1934 during the expansion of 7th Avenue, it was cut into logs and sold as souvenirs. One section was salvaged and found a home at the Apollo Theater.

As word spread that this unassuming log was part of the once great Tree of Hope, it became a tradition of Amateur Night to have each contestant touch the tree on the way to center stage. Since then, every single performer that has appeared on Amateur Night has touched that log. Within a year of its debut, its surface was as smooth as glass from all the now famous and not-so-famous hands that had touched or rubbed it.Now, touching The Tree of Hope has become recognized as the famed Apollo ceremonial act carried out by all Amateur Night performers before they compete. Rooted between a glorious past and an even greater future, the Tree of Hope links generations of performers together in an unbroken tradition of chance, desire and success."